A man has received a $1,200 fine after he failed to reveal to police the identity of the person driving a ute that was responsible for dumping a trailer of asbestos in the driveway of a Wollongong City Councilor.
Despite the car being registered in the man’s grandmother’s name and telling police many other people drive the ute, Brett Blackwell was found to be responsible for the ute that was captured dumping the asbestos on CCTV footage.
Magistrate Les Mabbutt found that because Blackwell was responsible for the vehicle, he had a duty to reveal to police who was driving the ute at the time the asbestos was dumped and failing to do was the reason the fine was issued.
These kinds of disciplinary actions are extremely important when it comes to asbestos as even minimal exposure to asbestos can result in a person contracting an asbestos related illness such as mesothelioma.
Asbestos related diseases are a major health concern for Australia as Australia has one of the highest rates of asbestos related illnesses in the world. The most troubling of these is the cancer mesothelioma which has already claimed the lives of so many Australians and the number of new cases is only expected to rise.
For people in Australian suffering asbestos conditions, multiple states such as South Australia and Victoria have implemented specific legislation to assist sufferers of asbestos conditions to pursue asbestos compensation.
